It Is Time to Dump the Behavioral Engineering Model and Most Other Taxonomies
by Donald Tosti, CPT, PhD

Every discipline needs some way of identifying the variables that are essential to its theory and practice. Human performance technology (HPT) also required this; and in the early 60s, the field began to formulate performance system models to meet this need. These models were derived from the laboratory analysis of behavior put into a systems framework. Over the last 40-plus years, many theorist-practitioners have successfully used variations of various performance systems models in their analysis of performance variables. These models generally consist of some variation of the elements found in the figure below:

The power of the performance system model as a means of identifying performance variables is that it is:

• Derived from scientific research.
• Allows one to examine the linkages between the variables.
• Focused on results.
• Scalable, which allows us to extend it to cover processes/operations, management/administration, and business/marketplace performance.

One of the earliest versions of this model was developed by Drs. Dale Brethower, Geary Rummler, and George Geis for use in their courses at the University of Michigan. In 1964, Brethower added the very important element of the receiver. The model shown above was described by Dr. Lloyd Homme who first defined behavioral engineering in 1966.

An alternative approach to variable classification is to use taxonomy as Tom Gilbert did. A few years later, Gilbert introduced his Behavioral Engineering taxonomy at the 1969 NSPI conference. The presentation was well attended; however, most attendees were not particularly enthusiastic about Gilbert’s approach. Their view at the time was that it did not reflect any research model, and it did not seem to provide any advantage over the already existing systems models as a way to identify performance variables. And most telling, it did not focus on results. Some people later referred to it as the “skin” model because the center dividing line can be said to represent the human skin. (The top three variables are external and the bottom three internal.) Many felt this also gave too much weight to internal, rather than external, variables.

Gilbert’s version of the Behavioral Engineering Model was generally neglected for the next 20 years. Most of us who were active in non-instructional interventions such as Rummler, Danny Langdon, Brethower, myself, and many others used some variation of the performance systems approach for our analysis. Then in the early 90s, Gilbert’s model was “rediscovered” and embraced. Perhaps, it was because people new to HPT and those who only had a background in training needed an easy way to understand and analyze individual performance, and lacked the behavioral science experience of earlier practitioners.

The most important characteristics of the HPT field are that it is systems and result focused, and that gives us a powerful means to deal with performance issues. It also differentiates us from all the other people/process/organizational disciplines such as organizational development (OD) and management theory. Rather than rely on an integrated systems view, these fields promote a multitude of taxonomies. There are hundreds of such taxonomies in the management/OD literature. They usually take the form of two-by-two matrices.

More often than not, taxonomies are not derived from any scientific studies but instead are usually based on someone’s “observational theory” and use some special terminology. For example, leadership taxonomies may divide drivers from putters or locate what quadrant you fit in or identify you as a persuader or an enabler or any one of a hundred other classifications. Since they are not bound by research, there is no limit to the variety of taxonomies one can generate when it comes to human performance. It is probably no coincidence that general HR/training organizations like ASTD have built their whole approach to performance around Gilbert’s taxonomy with its focus on individuals rather than the performance systems models, which have much broader organizational applications.

System views are scalable; system views indicate relationships between variables; and system views can be used as frameworks to integrate across specialized applications. System views stress interdependencies. System views tap into a more widespread vocabulary and understanding. Taxonomies generally provide little of these benefits.

But it seems recently we in HPT have become less system and more taxonomy oriented. A glance at the Performance Improvement journal supports this conclusion. Many articles are reports of the use and utility of various classification models. They often present long lists of things you should consider when doing “X.” Unfortunately, because they are focused on some specific issue and not derived from any basic HPT principle, they are too often quickly forgotten. Many try to bend Gilbert’s taxonomy to fit their particular classification scheme, while others come up with their own variation. Most are hieratical focused rather than results focused, and almost none have any systemic structure.

Taxonomies do have value. They are often an early means of isolating variables, but they are limited. The real power comes from understanding what lies beneath these classifications and how the variables interact to impact performance results. To be able to label something does not mean you understand it or are able to control it. The problem with taxonomies is that they generally are issue specific: They are not based on any general scientific or researched principles. For example, your 29 dimensions of relationship harmony score has no clear relationship to your learning style or any other of the thousand style inventories you can find at a training conference exhibit hall. It is also unfortunately true most taxonomies, like the management grid so popular in the 70s, seldom outlive their authors.

Gilbert made many significant contributions to the field. His insights were profound and numerous, but his Behavioral Engineering taxonomy was not a significant one.

The performance system approach to identifying variables has a proven track record and has the benefits we described earlier. Let’s see more work based on this model, and let’s hope to see a decrease in the proliferation of taxonomies that violate our first two principles: They are neither results focused nor systemic in nature.

Just say no to more taxonomy.

Reference
Homme, L. & Homme, A. (1966). What behavioral engineering is. Psychological Record, 23, 256-278.

Donald T. Tosti, CPT, PhD, a consistent contributor to PerformanceXpress, is the founding partner of Vanguard Consulting. He has been a recognized expert in performance-based approaches to organizational effectiveness for three decades. Don has received ISPI’s top two honors: Member for Life and the Thomas F. Gilbert Award. He also served as ISPI president in 2004–2005. He has been involved in a wide range of organizational alignment and change programs for companies in the US, Middle East, and Europe. Don has also written numerous books and articles on human performance and its application in today’s business world. He may be reached at Change111@aol.com.

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TrendSpotters: RSVP+
by Carol Haig, CPT, and Roger Addison, CPT, EdD

As regular readers know, each month in this space a TrendSpotters guest shares a useful model or tool. We explore how to use it and often provide links to more detail. To demonstrate our belief that the work we do as performance consultants should actively reflect the Principles of HPT, we always show how the featured model or tool supports the four Principles: RSVP.

Genesis of the Standards
Like the industries in which we work, the discipline of human performance technology (HPT) is dynamic, not static. The HPT Model, in use for many years, lacked the flexibility to evolve to represent the ways that we work now. From discussions during an ISPI Think Tank, commonalities drawn from a number of HPT-related models begat the Performance Technology Landscape model to more accurately characterize how we think, where we work, and what we do.

The 10 Standards of Performance Technology, in turn, grew from the continuing evolution of the Performance Technology Landscape. The first four of these Standards, RSVP, are the Principles that govern the field of HPT. The Standards became part of the Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) designation when Judy Hale and her team built the certification program. Appropriately, CPT candidates must demonstrate that their work supports the Standards.

RSVP Description
HPT is focused on Results. Results are what organizations measure. When we begin a performance improvement project by specifying the Results and then work backward to determine what we can do to better achieve them, we have a powerful formula for successful performance improvement.

HPT takes a Systems viewpoint. Every organization is a System with interdependencies within and across functions and among levels. Alignment among these elements is critical for any performance improvement initiative to become embedded in an organization’s culture.

HPT adds Value. Performance improvement is focused on delivering “valued results.” Any solution’s success must be tied to the success of the individual worker, the work or processes, and the workplace or organization.

HPT establishes Partnerships. No performance consultant succeeds alone. Our work entails developing collaborative relationships with clients and other project stakeholders, often a great many people.

How to Use RSVP
Here at TrendSpotters Central, we are privileged to learn from our guest interviews. Our lively discussions frequently lead us to interesting reading and useful applications of RSVP, such as:

• Results are most often expressed in terms of profits or growth, such as increasing profit or growing market share by a specific percentage. Geary Rummler reminds us to link our Results to critical business, process, and individual measures.
• What is the System of the client organization you work with? Is it a series of functional silos? For initiatives to become part of the organization’s fabric, processes must be aligned across the System. As Thomas Friedman says, “Innovations in companies like HP…now come more and more often from horizontal collaboration among different departments and teams spread all across the globe.” (The World is Flat, Release 3.0)
• Partnerships are critical. As you look around your organization you will discover lots of people trying to improve performance in their own areas. Consider the power of a broad group of stakeholders “Partnering” for the same goals. Today, if organizations are not thinking horizontally, they are not innovating.
• We used to work for a company where we learned “you get what you measure.” That is, organizations measure results, and they also measure that which is of Value. Don Tosti recommends that we align our practices with the organization’s Values.
• Do you have an “elevator speech” to succinctly describe your work? Does the one you have need a tune-up? Try using RSVP to frame it.
• Geary Rummler has taught us that a bad System is pervasive and will override the best performer’s efforts. The same bad system will overwhelm a good customer’s legitimate complaints, enabling resolution of the complaint but without changing the System.
• Awhile back, we realized an important element of performance consulting was not reflected in RSVP, nor was it included in the other six Standards: neutrality. As ethical performance consultants, we recommend solutions that are best for the client’s situation, regardless of those for which we have a particular fondness, or in which we have expertise. The ethical performance consultant stays focused on the client’s needs and is solution neutral: RSVP+.

TrendSpotters Open Toolkit
We invite you to visit the TOT to view a valuable array of tools and models that you can download for your use. In addition, you may browse all the past TrendSpotters interviews published since March 2002.

Advice to Users of the RSVP Principles
We have found it helpful to consider the RSVP principles beginning with the earliest stages of project development, to ensure that we:

• Define measurable Results
• Understand the System in which the organization operates
• Know what is of Value and how our work can add to that
• Choose Partners that will contribute in the best ways to achieve the specified Results

Application Exercise
Consider a project you are working on right now, no matter what its stage. Stop and identify for yourself how the project supports RSVP. If any of the Principles are not supported, and they should be, make adjustments to your project.

Now it is your turn. Tell us how the RSVP Principles have made a difference in your work.

You may contact Carol Haig at carolhaig@earthlink.net or at http://home.mindspring.com/~carolhaig; and you may contact Roger Addison at roger@ispi.org.

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Think Before You Outsource
by Leigh Anne McIntyre

We have all experienced it. We have all been frustrated by it. What is it? Outsourced customer service.

I want to tell you a story about my recent experience with this in the hopes that professionals in the field of performance consulting can work with business leaders to make outsourced customer service a little less painful.

Several months ago, I decided to try a discounted printing service to order cute business cards for my kids. (Just their names and email addresses.) Now, I normally do not use discounted printing. In fact, I spare no expense with my own business cards. But since these cards were for my kids, I thought I would give this service a try. My only requirement was that the kids get their cards before school let out.

I went through the whole online process, selecting cute artwork, putting in the correct data, and I ordered the cards—using 21-day shipping. (This is an important point later in the story.)

Then the trouble began. After about 14 days, a part-way opened box arrived with my son’s new cards in it. There were no cards for my daughter. There was no packing slip to tell what was supposed to be in the box. As you can imagine, I was concerned that my daughter’s cards had fallen out of the opening in the box and were lost in the mail. I determined that I needed to get my account number and see what information was available online. I went to my office and looked everything up. I then called customer service to find out if my daughter’s cards were lost, or if they were still on the way. The conversation went something like this:

CSR: “Thank you for calling XYZ Printing. How may I help you today?”

Me: “Hi. I was calling about a shipment that just arrived. The box was ripped and not everything I ordered was in it. I have my account number and tried to find out online, but the information wasn’t available. My account number is (number provided).”

CSR: “Ma’am, you used the 21-day shipping option. Your order is not late until it has been 21-business days.”

Me: “Great. But I’m not worried about a shipment being late. I want to find out what was supposed to be in this shipment so I can make sure nothing fell out of the torn box.”

CSR: “Your package is not yet considered late.”

Me: “No problem. I understand that this is the answer you have to give to me. Can I save some time and ask to speak with your supervisor? He or she should be able to look up the packing slip for me.”

CSR: “Please hold.”

Supervisor: “How may I help you today?”

Me: “Hi. I was calling about a shipment that just arrived. The box was ripped and not everything I ordered was in it. I just want to make sure nothing was lost.”

Supervisor: “Ma’am, you used the 21-day shipping option. Your order….”

Do you notice anything familiar at this point? I did.

Me interrupting: “I have to warn you, this 21-day shipping option is becoming a real hot button for me. I’m not asking you to speed up the shipping. I’m asking about what was in the box. Please don’t talk to me about the 21-day shipping option.”

Supervisor: “You only paid for the 21-day shipping option. Your order is not late until it has been 21 days.”

Can you imagine what I said to her next?

It was clear to me at this point that the customer service for this company was 100% outsourced. These workers had no authority to say anything to me that was not written on a script. I can understand it. In fact, I work with clients who do just that.

The point I think we as performance consultants should take from this is: If you are going to 100% outsource an important function such as customer service, give a great deal of thought to the phone script. Also give a great deal of thought to providing at least the supervisors with some level of freedom to help frustrated customers.

If you are wondering about the end result of the story, here it is: I ended up with very high blood pressure by the end of the call, the supervisor finally provided the information I was asking for, and I continue to spend loads of money on printing—from another company.

Leigh Anne McIntyre has more than 15 years of experience in the field of instructional design. She has her bachelor’s degree in Business Management from West Georgia State University and her master’s degree in Human Resource Development from Georgia State University. Leigh Anne has won three Telly Awards and the GSU Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Application of HRD in the Workplace. She may be reached at leighanne@instructionaldesigngroup.com.

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Enhancing Knowledge, Know-How, and Results in the City that Never Sleeps
by Barbara H. Gough, CPT, 2008 Conference Committee

ISPI’s 2008 Conference Committee is working hard to put together The Performance Improvement Conference 2008: Enhancing Knowledge, Know-How, and Results, April 5-8, New York City, New York.

It is shaping up to be a wonderful conference. Not only will it be held in the fabulous city of New York, but we have invited excellent speakers to address our attendees on some timely and important subjects. We also have many educational and fun activities planned to please all conference attendees. We are offering five Certificate Programs based on 20 half-, one-, and two-day workshops.

The hundreds of conference proposals received from potential presenters are in the process of being reviewed. We have an excellent team of track chairs who have put together great teams of people who are reviewing all the proposals. You may not know that our review process requires each proposal to be reviewed by three people and calls to be made to references of first-time presenters. This extensive review should be completed this month. If you submitted a proposal for the conference, you should receive notification on the status of your topic in early November.

Your conference committee is also working on some ideas for the Community Center that will offer all attendees an exciting place to gather. In addition to the bookstore, you can look forward to many new activities. A team of volunteers is hard at work making the Community Center a place for attendees to visit and congregate during the conference.

The Conference Committee hopes you plan on attending The Performance Improvement Conference 2008 and is working hard to ensure that attending the activities will be a value-added experience for all. And, having the conference in the city of New York is an added bonus because New York is a very unique location with much to offer its visitors. We look forward to seeing you next year!

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From the Board: 2006-2007 ISPI Wrap Up
by Mary Norris Thomas, CPT, PhD

As Fall announces itself in glorious hues of autumn gold, ISPI heralds the start of a new fiscal year on October 1, 2007. In preparation, our Executive Director Richard Battaglia, staff, and the Board of Directors have given full attention to the budgeting cycle, closing out the fiscal year which ended on September 30, 2007, as well as on-going responsible stewardship and administration of our Society’s funds.

Let’s take a look at how we’ve been doing, beginning with our 10-year revenue history, which is shown in the chart in Figure 1.

Figure 1. ISPI Revenue History.

Although we’ve had our ups and downs, 2007 marks a bright upward turn in revenues with the success of our San Francisco conference, as well as our diversified program mix. Overall examination of revenue illustrates this upward trend, in particular, a 26% increase in 2007 revenue compared to the 2003 low point, and continued growth projected in the 2008 budget.

We continue to diversify our revenue sources, which gives us broader income streams and lessens the reliance on any single program. Conferences, educational programs, and publications continue to be our “top sellers,” with our certification program making growing contributions as well.

An especially important financial performance indicator is our program efficiency ratio. This ratio is the proportion of each expense dollar that is spent on member programs and services. In other words, money that goes directly back to the membership. When this ratio is high, most expenses are going right back out to member programs and services and relatively little is spent on other functional or operational expenses. We have much to be proud of here; consistently achieving a high program efficiency ratio. More specifically, our program efficiency ratio is excellent; 82% for 2006 and projected to come in even higher for 2007, which will put us near or at the 75^th percentile of organizations in our national peer group for program efficiency. This means we out-performed about 75% of our peer organizations.

The Society continues to maintain its reserves to ensure operational stability and fund investments in your programs, services, and member benefits. Figure 2 shows our 10-year fund balance history.

Figure 2. ISPI Fund Balance History.

In recognition of the high glaze-over effect that finances can induce, I have simply (I hope) sketched some key points. In accordance with our operating standards, a full financial report will be provided at ISPI’s conference in April 2008. At any time, your input, comments, and questions are always welcome. Please feel fee to contact me at mnthomas@fleminggroup.com or Rick Battaglia at rick@ispi.org. Again, thanks to Rick and our entire staff for their grand accomplishments.

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New Orleans: Jazz, Great Food, Great Fun, and ISPI

Before “lean”, Six Sigma, knowledge management, or one-minute cures, our presenters were breaking new ground in the principles and practices of performance technology. Participants will work with proven tools and techniques and learn new approaches to enhance value for both the organization and the client.

	Geary Rummler’s Introduction to Serious Performance Consulting will take you beyond job-level performance improvement for individual workers to an exploration of the process and organizational levels of performance improvement where HPT practitioners can make a lasting contribution to their organizations.
	Margo Murray’s Managing Mentoring Processes for Measured Results will provide guidelines and practice in the front-end strategies, needs/readiness assessment, and back end evaluation, and continuous improvement, to create sustainable mentoring processes.
	No matter what your role in any organization, Carl Binder’s Six Boxes™ Performance Improvement and Introduction to FluencyBuilding™—a combination of practical, results-driven methodologies—will give you new perspectives, insights, research-based tools, and quick start methods for immediate application.
	Donald Tosti’s Organizational Performance: Focus on Results will draw on the years of research and development within HPT to introduce a common framework which facilitates the understanding of the relationships between HPT and virtually all other forms of organizational consulting.

These workshops are limited in size to ensure participants receive individual attention from presenters and quality time to interact with other attendees. Each attendee will have the opportunity to participate in a pre- and post-workshop conference call. Upon completion of the program, you will receive a Certificate of Completion. In addition, you can earn up to 12 CPT points toward re-certification. For more information, visit www.ispi.org/ProSeries.

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High-Performance Marketing
HPT Marketing: Begin with the End in Mind
by Richard F. Gerson, CPT, PhD

There are two pervasive problems in how human performance technology (HPT) programs are marketed to business today. The first is that we cannot always justify these investments on a financial and strategic basis because these initiatives seem to cost more to implement than we thought and they usually take a long time to show a return. The second is that we always create HPT programs from the beginning, which may ultimately be why we cannot justify or get the desired results. Maybe the beginning (the start of the process) is not a good place to start if we effectively want to market HPT as either internal or external consultants.

Take a look at how any HPT program is designed. There will be a gap analysis followed by a causal analysis to design the program specs. Next, a delivery mechanism (solution implementation) is created, and then its effectiveness is evaluated. This works well in theory, but it does not do as well in the real world. How many HPT champions have difficulty generating executive-level interest for future programs or initiatives when their previous approaches may not have achieved the desired corporate performance and financial results? And how many executives have difficulty getting their HPT champions to provide strategically related and financial-based ROI that will help them justify continued support of these programs? And how many of these problems could be solved with a results-oriented marketing program for HPT?

Let me give you an example from my work in sports psychology on how beginning at the end is more effective.

When most sport psychologists work with athletes to improve their performances through mental training, most of the visualizations start at the beginning of the activity. The athlete is taught to relax and then visualize preparing for the event or activity. Then, the athlete is trained to imagine himself or herself performing successfully in the event. The imagery is repeated several times, always from beginning to end. While this is the standard method of visualization training, it is not the most effective because negative thoughts can creep in, performance glitches can occur, and the athlete can actually lose confidence or focus during front-end mental rehearsal.

It is more effective to have the athlete begin with the end in mind. I train athletes to visualize the successful result of their performance first, and then to work backward to the beginning of that performance. This means ending the visualization with the preparation phase. These athletes usually outperform their start-to-finish visualizing competitors. The reason for this is that they began with a successful result, which sets up a virtuous self-fulfilling cycle. Now, as they “rewind” their imagery to the beginning, no negative thoughts or activities can occur because they already have mentally experienced success. Here is how to apply this concept to marketing HPT.

We must begin at the end. Start with asking the client or customer what he or she wants as a result of the HPT intervention, what he or she expects from the program as far as what the company will do (say, act) that is different as a result of the initiative, and how he or she perceives the changed behavior or performance will be measured. Then, interview some of the people who will also be affected by this intervention to identify what they want from the program, how they will measure their own behavioral and performance changes, and what you must do to help them improve their performances. Again, you are starting at the end with the desired objectives, outcomes, and results—not at the beginning.

Once you have all this information, you can promote the HPT intervention to the appropriate executives who will fund the program. You can give them the ROI financially and behaviorally for both affected individuals and the organization. Since CEOs want to know how the HPT intervention will align with the organization’s strategic objectives, and the CFO wants to know how financially feasible the project is and will be, you can satisfy both by beginning with the end in mind. You can achieve faster implementation and increased adoption of the initiative by implementing a system that begins with the end in mind. We will also then do a better job of creating financial returns and behavioral changes that positively affect our organizations’ strategic goals, our performers’ behaviors, and the future success of our companies. And it will be much easier to market future HPT programs because you already “know” the results.

Richard Gerson, CPT, PhD, is president of Gerson Goodson Inc., a performance consulting firm located in Clearwater, Florida. He is the author of 22 books, with six books on marketing, sales, and customer service, along with several other books on performance management and performance consulting. He may be reached at richard.gerson@richgerson.com.

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2008 Honorary Award Nominations

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) has three special honorary awards that recognize outstanding individuals and organizations for their significant contributions to Human Performance Technology and to the Society itself. The awards are the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award, the Distinguished Service Award, and the Honorary Life Member Award. As done in the past, the membership is asked to submit names of qualified individuals for consideration for the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award and Distinguished Service Award. If you are interested in nominating an ISPI member, please email the following information to april@ispi.org:

• Name of award
• Name, telephone number, and email of nominee
• Name and telephone number of nominator
• Brief supporting information for the nominee

This year’s recipients were Honorary Life Member: Klaus D. Wittkuhn, Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award: Dale M. Brethower, and the Distinguished Service Award: Carol Panza. The deadline to receive nominations is November 2, 2007. For more detailed information on the guidelines used for selecting individuals to receive these awards, click here.

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Leading a Virtual Team: For Best Results You Should be Both Facilitator and Manager
by Garry J. DeRose, PhD, and Lora L. Snow

One of the most challenging assignments in dispersed organizations today is leading a team that operates across global distances and typically includes members who differ by culture and language as well as time zones.

As a leader, your mission is to overcome distance and diversity and build a smoothly functioning team based on mutual trust and coordinated pursuit of team goals. Operating as a facilitator, you work to build consensus on efficient operating procedures and develop shared responsibility for achieving objectives.

Those goals are important but people issues are only half the challenge. To achieve effective team performance you must also function as a manager, by putting in place systematic processes for gathering and reporting data on progress against goals and by keeping the team on track and on schedule.

Develop Trust
As noted above, your critical first step in launching such a team is to develop mutual trust among its members, especially since many may never have met you or other team members. It means taking an even-handed, consistent approach that solicits input from all team members and includes one-on-one contact between you and each member.

You want all team members to fully participate in virtual meetings, so you should take steps to prevent apathy and make sure everyone knows he or she is expected to help move the project forward. If your team is multicultural, keep their differences in mind when dealing with members reluctant to participate or those who tend to dominate discussion. Make sure every team member has action steps to take between meetings.

Take Systematic Steps
Practical research, based on a long-running learning intervention at a major corporation, shows that you will achieve best results in meeting team goals by incorporating a series of systematic steps into the meeting process.

First, list specific data needed from team members and dates when due. Next, establish clear definitions of the content and format of reports. To ensure accurate, timely data from members, acknowledge reports that are correct and on time and prompt those who are responsible for any that are not.

Some decisions, such as setting meeting dates, may be reached by consensus. However, as manager, you should make sure all steps are in place when the team is launched.

Before your team even begins working, members should become thoroughly familiar with the communications technology used in meetings, including specialized software such NetMeeting. Have the team train together on the technology, set protocols for document exchange and storage, and provide for members’ hardware and software needs.

As reports come in, your team will assess progress against its goals and timeline. Your meetings then must deal with variances from the plan and actions required to correct shortfalls and adjust to other surprises.

Virtual meetings are far more likely to be successful if you keep the content solid and the purpose clear. Basic elements of meeting agendas will include confirming the plan, reviewing progress to date, taking needed corrective action, and keeping people informed.

Processes Plus People
Virtual teams present real challenges for a project leader. These challenges can be overcome through careful attention to both people issues and systematic processes for accomplishing team goals efficiently. Therefore, the team leader should act both as a facilitator, leading the group to consensus on important issues, and as a manager, insisting on adherence to process steps that will lead to efficient, timely results.

Garry J. DeRose is director and CEO of CCFL, the Corning Center For Learning. He holds a BA from Montclair (NJ) State College, an MBA from Syracuse University, and an MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin. Lora L. Snow is director of development at CCFL. She provided essential research and other assistance in the preparation of this article. If you have any questions, you may contact Dave Pierce at dpierce1@rochester.rr.com.

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Partner with a Colleague: Receive a Discount on The Performance Improvement Conference 2008

Did you attend ISPI’s Annual Conference in San Francisco? If not, you should find someone who did and ask to register with him or her for The Performance Improvement Conference, April 5-8, 2008, in New York City. If you did attend the 2007 conference, you should find a colleague or client who did not and bring them to New York. Our two-person registration package allows a 2007 conference attendee and a colleague to register for just $125 over the individual full registration fee. The only stipulation is the colleague or client cannot have attended ISPI’s 2007 conference in San Francisco.

Here is how it works:

• OPTION 1: If you (as a SF attendee) register with an ISPI member before January 25, 2008, you and your colleague will pay a total of $1,000, or $500 each (an overall savings of $750).
• OPTION 2: If you (as a SF attendee) register with a non-member before January 25, 2008, you and your colleague will pay a total of $1,250, or $625 each (an overall savings of $1,000).

Note: You and your colleague may split the registration fee however you wish. The $500 and $625 each is just an example. If your non-member colleague joins ISPI, you are immediately eligible for OPTION 1.

So, what are you waiting for?
Find a colleague or client (who was not in San Francisco) you feel will benefit from the ISPI experience, and register today. Or, find a colleague or client who attended the San Francisco conference and convince them to take advantage of this offer. Click here to download the special registration form.

The theme, Enhancing Knowledge, Know-How, and Results, is about improving how we put our knowledge to work and increasing our ability to accomplish valued results. For more details on the conference, visit www.ispi.org/AC2008.

Keynote Speakers Nancy J. Lewis (left) and Brenda M. Sugrue

Keynote Speakers Just Announced!
Nancy J. Lewis, vice president, IBM Sales and On Demand Learning, and Brenda M. Sugrue, CPT, manager, IBM Sales Learning Solutions, will take a candid, real-world look at the next generation’s approaches to performance and work-based learning during their presentation, The Future of Learning.

Join us at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel in the Times Square theater district of midtown Manhattan. The hotel is within walking distance of the Broadway theater district, Fifth Avenue/Madison Avenue shopping, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center and the NBC Studios, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Central Park. Also nearby, you will find Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the United Nations, and the Empire State Building.

We look forward to welcoming you and your colleague to New York City!

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Project Proven Tools and Techniques for ISD:
Teams for ADDIE-level ISD Efforts
by Guy W. Wallace, CPT, Representative of the Instructional Systems ProComm

The tenth topic we are covering in this 12-part series is Teams for ADDIE-level ISD Efforts. These are the customer teams and the supplier teams. The team structure I am presenting fits my ISD model-set—a three-level model of ISD processes. Below, we will cover those teams involved in level 2 and level 3, which are the ADDIE-like levels of ISD.

ISD Project Steering Team
The role of the ISD project steering team is to own the instructional product development project and make key decisions at various project milestones and review points. The specific responsibilities of the project steering team are to:

• Review/critique and revise the project plan
• Select candidate members for the analysis team
• Review/critique the analysis report data and preliminary recommendations
• Select candidates for the design team
• Review/critique the ISD design documentation
• Select candidate members for the pilot-test team’s management representatives and target audience representatives
• Review/critique the pilot-test report and update all revision recommendations to revision specifications

ISD Analysis Team
The role of the ISD analysis team is to provide real-world input to the analysis process regarding the target audience’s expected performance and the associated knowledge and skills required. The analysis team should be composed of master performers and staff experts and individuals with specialized knowledge selected and recruited by the project steering team members. The specific responsibilities of the analysis team are to:

• Provide input in the analysis meetings regarding the mission(s), areas of performance (AoPs), key outputs and metrics, and tasks and roles and responsibilities of ideal performance; plus a gap analysis
• Provide input regarding the enabling K/S for the AoP’s data-sets

ISD Design Team
The role of the ISD design team is to provide input and feedback during the actual design activities. The design team should participate in a structured process to begin the work of developing the T&D event maps, T&D lesson maps, and T&D instructional activity specifications. One to three design team members should be recruited from the analysis team. The specific responsibilities of the design team members are to:

• Use the analysis data and additions to frame an event map (of lessons)
• Sort the analysis data and additions further into lesson maps (of instructional activities)
• Complete the instructional activity specifications

ISD Development Team
The role of the master performers and subject matter experts is to provide content input for the development process and to review and critique material drafts per specifically assigned lessons.

ISD Pilot-Test Team
The role of the pilot-test team is to attend and evaluate the initial delivery of the training for the purpose of generating revision recommendations for consideration by the project steering team. The pilot-test team members will be selected by the project steering team. The role of the pilot-test team members is to:

• Attend the pilot session as active participant
• Participate in the extensive evaluations during the first delivery
  • Daily verbal debriefs (end of each day)
  • Lesson-by-lesson written evaluations
  • Final, end-of-course written evaluations

Note: The pilot-test team’s management representatives are also known as “management spies” as they do not represent the target audience; and the target audience representatives represent the typical range of expected trainees, learners, and performers that the instructional product is, by design, targeting. One can be used to assess completeness, accuracy, and appropriateness of the instruction; and the other to measure instructional effectiveness (level 2).

ISD Team
The role of the ISD team is to conduct the actual ISD work of the project. This team will be composed of personnel from the T&D, learning, and KMS staff. The ISD team roles involved include:

• ISD project manager
• ISD analyst
• ISD designer
• ISD lead developer
• ISD developers

These roles were covered in my August article, Key ISD Roles.

Summary
The team structure I presented fits my ISD model—a three-level model of ISD processes. Yours may vary!

Next month: Pilot-Testing Guidelines and Tools for ISD.

Note: An expanded version of this article and the prior articles of this series may be found in the documents area of the IS ProComm. Click here to visit the website.

Guy W. Wallace, CPT, has been an external ISD and HPT consultant since 1982, is the president of EPPIC Inc., has been a member of ISPI since 1979, is a past president of ISPI, is the author of lean-ISD, and is a recipient of an ISPI 2002 Award of Excellence. He may be reached via guy.wallace@eppic.biz, and related resources may be obtained at his website, www.eppic.biz, including his three most recent books available as free PDFs: lean-ISD, T&D Systems View, and new in 2007, Management Areas of Performance.

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